New Shoes

I remember how excited I got as a 10 year old to get a brand-new pair of tennis shoes.  My old ones were all worn out and full of holes.  They were comfortable, but had lost their traction and were actually a little dangerous to run in.

But not the new shoes.  I really believed I could run dramatically faster in my new shoes.  They had better support, gripped better, and looked a TON better.  I couldn’t wait to get them every year when school started.  What a great day!

Ever feel that way about your physical body?  As I get older, I find more aches and pains that come with age.  I used to be able to run on 5 hours sleep for a week at a time, now I can last a day or two.  My back aches all the time and I got my dad’s arthritis in my shoulders, hips and knees.  Sometimes, life is physically hard, emotionally hard and spiritually hard.  Sometimes, like those hold shoes, our lives reveal the difficulty of the race.

Paul probably wore sandals, and rarely got new ones, but he did weary of the race.  Like Paul, I sometimes long to go home to a new body:

We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. 2 Corinthians 5:2 (NLT)

But as tiring as the race can sometimes be, we are called to run it in such a way as to win the prize.  Whether we are running in old shoes or new, we must run to please God.

So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body. 2 Corinthians 5:9-10 (NLT)

There is a new, heavenly body waiting for us someday, but for now He has given us the privilege of running the race with outdated equipment. 

So take heart!  Run hard!  Long for heaven, but work hard on earth!   It is ok to be tired, and it is good to rest.  But after you have rested enough, get back out and run some more!

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